My reporting is 'disturbing and appalling,' turns her stomach

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Here's an unedited email I received on Saturday about my coverage of former New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu's suicide in Rancho Palos Verdes last week.

Seriously? Anyway, this is the sort of stuff I get.

"Dear Mr. altman:  I have to tell you that I found your reporting on the death of the ex Yankee pitcher disturbing and appalling.  A man has lost his life, so distraught by his life that he chose to kill himself.  The tone of your article would make one think that you think he deserved that, that he shopuld have killed himself , he was such a worthless pile of dung.  You list his failings and close the article with his alcohol problems as if this were a fitting end for such an individual.  How do you think both of his young daughters will feel if they read what you wrote?
 
There was an article earlier this year about a woman who was murdered at the Residnece Inn in torrance where you did the same thing.  Told the facts of her death and then told of her arrest records, etc.
 
Is this the tone of the Daily Breeze now?  When someone dies we print a laundry list of their shortcomings and failures?
 
I have to say it really turns my stomach and makes me feel squirmy about continue to subscribe to the Daily Breeze.
 
I personally think its a great accomplishment to be skilled and talented enough to make it to the big leagues in baseball, let alone the yankees, and to earn millions of dollars doing that, plus being able to live in an area like RPV as a result of the accomplishments.
 
Mr. Altman, I hope that when you die an obituary is published that will drag all the skeletons out of your closet and make them public and I hope they ignore anything positive that you may have accomplished in your life  and that they concentrate only on your failures and shortcomings.
 
I'm not signing my name just in case I may die soon and you may want to write my obituary,."

Comment: The man's failings, including his drunken driving arrest, another alcohol-related arrest and his career -- which did not go as I'm sure he or the Yankees had hoped -- are what made him newsworthy.

Comment #2: The background on the woman found dead at the Extended Stay motel on Torrance Boulevard was used as part of covering the story and partly to answer the question, "Who is this woman?"

1 Comments

tonto said:

To be fair Larry, you are kind of a shill for the PC's (psudo cops). Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back.

Give some some thought to a more complete investigation into your subject matters background, it might improve your writing.

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About the Blogger


Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.

E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.

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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Larry Altman published on August 1, 2011 10:03 AM.

UPDATE: Coroner confirms former Yankee Irabu hanged himself was the previous entry in this blog.

Fire on Hawthorne Boulevard is only training is the next entry in this blog.

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